BLOG CENSORSHIP--local laws trump global mindset

 I feel lucky to have the freedom to say what i want when i want. But for many bloggers/online journalists, it's ironic that, in this seemingly boundry-less electronic environment, we ultimately cannot forget where our IP address says we are. Access to a computer doesn't change a country's tendency to support free speech.

Yesterday, in Vietnam, blogger Pham Minh Hoang, a lecturer at a local university and member of Viet Tan, an organization that "aims to bring about democratic changes in Vietnam through nonviolent means and civic engagement," was arrested for spouting his views electronically. If you think back to 2007, you'll remember Saudi Arabian authorities arrested prominent Saudi Arabian political blogger Fouad al-Farhan (who exposed some measure of government corruption), resulting in worldwide controversy. The censorship in al-Farhan's case is much more warranted than in Hoang's. But, it's a testament to the power of e-writing that censorship is being thrust upon these activists in countries that are not ready for their candidness.

Bloggers are also arrested in the United States. But, more than half the arrests since 2003 have happened in the countries China, Egypt, and Iran. Two dozen Iranian journalists and bloggers were arrested in under a week around the time of the Iranian elections back in June 2009. Most bloggers are accused of 'organizing a social protest.'